Overheard: Next Gen Xbox to Feature AMD Samara Mobile APU

According to a Bloomberg report, Microsoft has signed a deal with AMD such that the former's next generation Xbox will feature AMD's Samara mobile APU. This development comes in the wake of our earlier report of a possible unveiling of Microsoft's next generation Xbox on 21 May.

This report also confirms an earlier rumor that the upcoming Xbox may contain an AMD graphical processor. The new Xbox will feature an AMD Samara mobile APU that sports Jaguar CPU cores, together with a Fusion graphics engine. The current Xbox 360 features an IBM-designed 64-bit Power PC chip, and with Microsoft's alleged move towards AMD's x86-64 APUs may lead to incompatibility with current Xbox 360 titles. Despite such issues, Microsoft's drastic decision stems from the company's claims that game studios will have an easier time developing cross-platform games for its next generation Xbox.